2021 Year in Review
As someone who loves year end rituals, new year energy, and the thrill of a fresh new planner, I like to take some time to reflect on the past year and what it meant for me as an artist, business owner, and human being.
As I looked over my 2021 journals, calendar, and planner this week, I realized
2021 was a year of firsts for North Woven Goods.
First cohesive collection release: In March, I announced, created, marketed, and released Moon Studies, a collection of 12 mid-sized wall hangings featuring full moon imagery. Along with each weaving, I included a self-published zine of my poetry, which was a new way to connect my two passions, writing and weaving. It was such a beautiful process creating this collection at this time of year, when the days are growing brighter and winter is starting to feel a little too long.
I have created "collections" before, but I usually made the weavings individually first and later, when I had a number of them, found a theme to connect them. The theme of Moon Studies was planned and named before I made the first wall hanging, and it was both a challenge and a delight to create twelve weavings that would feel cohesive without forcing the connection.
First art festival: In spring, I worked up the courage to apply for my first juried art festival, and was thrilled to be accepted to the Grand Marais Art Festival! Last year (2020), I was rejected, so I knew that acceptance was far from guaranteed and I truly didn't know whether I'd be invited to participate.
The Art Festival took place in mid-July, and I spent around two months weaving up a storm to prepare for it, while also navigating the busy season for my part-time cleaning work. It was an intense preparation period and an intense event. I found imposter syndrome creeping in from the moment I submitted my application to the moment I packed up my tent at the end of the festival. But alongside those uncertain feelings were also excitement, pride, gratitude, and a reminder of how much I love interacting with folks at in-person events.
First vintage pop ups: One of my goals for 2021 was to do at least one local pop-up for Northern Shift Resale Co, my (mostly online) vintage and clothing resale business. I was able to do two! It was so validating to watch folks be drawn to and excited about vintage pieces I had handpicked, cleaned, fixed up, and brought back to life. It was also a completely different experience than selling my weavings in person. Sharing my own creations, while wonderful, can be vulnerable and a little scary since they are born from my heart, mind, and own two hands; sharing vintage is just plain fun!
Other notable firsts: first Fall Studio Tour in Grand Marais as a guest artist at Nan Onkka Prints studio, first big artist collaboration with Hannah Palma Ceramics to create Sacred Moments Gift Offerings, first entire calendar year of self-employment/independent contract work.
New products this year: gradient coaster sets, placemats, shag rugs and weavings, vintage fiber packs, star weavings, and new greeting card designs.
New fun places my weavings found homes: vacation rental homes, a hair salon, a yurt, a tiny home, and a public sauna!
What to Expect in 2022
A collection of woven landscapes, including several night sky/star scenes. I plan to incorporate some favorite North Shore/Cook County vistas, as well as some more abstract scenes. I will be creating these pieces throughout the winter months and release them in late March/early April.
A collection of home goods such as rugs, placemats, table runners, coasters, plant mats and wall art made entirely from rustic natural materials such as jute, hemp, ramie, and more. I have been dreaming of this neutral, textured collection for a while now and just ordered some of the materials to begin to practice working with them. I think they'll be quite different to weave with than wool and cotton, and I can't wait to expand and learn as I weave with them. I plan to create and share this collection in the fall.
Consistent shop updates with favorites like coasters, earrings, and small wall hangings.
(Hopefully) more in-person events. I have bookmarked five (!!!) juried art festivals to apply to for summer 2022: one in Grand Marais, two in Duluth, and two in the Twin Cities. Applying to five certainly doesn’t mean I’ll be accepted to five (and if by some chance I was, would never be able to handle that many!) but the intention and hope is that I will be given the opportunity to participate in at least two. I love selling in person and my work loves being seen in person. I hope to expand into locations outside of Grand Marais so I can start finding new potential collectors of my work.
More focus on www.northwoven.com, including selling directly from my own website instead of from Etsy. Etsy has been a great tool as I grew comfortable selling my work online and makes life easier in some ways, like by collecting and remitting sales tax for sellers, Etsy search, and shipping discounts. But I’ve been leaning toward selling on my own website for a while, and when I recently saw that Squarespace is now set up for shipping through their platform, it was just the nudge I needed. My plan is to launch my landscape collection this spring on my own website. This also means that my email list subscribers, like yourself, will be able to get early access to collection launches, something I couldn’t offer through Etsy.
Growing and sharing my passion for and knowledge of vintage clothes. It has been so exciting to build my vintage resale business from the ground up this year. 2022 is the year I plan to dive in even more–more in-person pop-ups at local businesses, more research into vintage pieces, a website home for this business, and more consistent content and social media presence and growth.
I am endlessly grateful that I got to spend another year doing what I love, practicing and growing my craft, learning lessons along the way, and growing my business. Thank you to all who supported North Woven Goods in 2021!
